PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Point-of-Care Sensor for Host Gene Response to Pathogen Infection Respiratory tract infections rank as one of the leading causes of illness and death in the world. The lack of rapid, easy-to-use and accurate point-of-care (POC) diagnostics for early detection of pathogen infections is a main reason behind inappropriate use of antibiotics and the emergence of antibiotic resistance. Important progress has been made in developing FDA-approved assays that rely on multiplexed real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for qualitative detection of respiratory viruses. However, these assays are expensive, labor-intensive, and do not provide a sample-to-answer response time that is fast enough to guide early treatment decisions. One promising approach, which represents a paradigm shift in pathogen diagnostics, involves using blood-based, gene expression signatures of the patient response to pathogens to detect and discriminate viral infections from bacterial infections. To accelerate translation of this approach into clinically use, Giner, Inc. proposes to develop an electrochemical, viral respiratory infection sensor for rapid, sensitive and selective detection of pathogen-specific, host RNA expression biomarkers. The developed sensor will be designed for cost-effective and multiplexed viral infection detection for use in clinical POC and pandemic settings.